Wednesday, July 11, 2012

voter ID or voter fraud?

I foolishly let
myself get drawn into a FB 'conversation' over the continual efforts
of the Texas Republicans to institute a new voter ID card to combat
'voter fraud' in our state. The Justice Department has ruled against
it as posing undue hardship on the poor and minorities, infringing on
their constitutional right to vote but that doesn't stop our
state attorney general from filing a lawsuit against the government
over it, his 24th, incidentally, against the government
since he took office in 2004.

The reason the
republicans give for the new ID card is to prevent voter fraud. The
problem with that is that the percentage of proven voter fraud in our
state is so small as to be negligible, except perhaps in some local
elections where only a small percentage of the population votes in
the first place and the races are sometimes decided by a few votes,
as pointed out by a proponent of the law.

The effect
of the new voter ID card will be, in fact, to disenfranchise many
thousands of legal, law abiding voters.

This was my
comment :

I've
always had to show an ID to vote, we already do have to show an ID
to vote. that's not the problem. the problem is they want to
change it to a state issued picture ID. that means a lot of people
won't be able to vote that have been able to vote in the past. for
some people getting a state issued photo ID is not easy or even
possible. the new restriction will make it extremely difficult for
the poor and disenfranchised and students and elderly to vote. and
there is no reason for this new restriction since there has never
been any problem with voter fraud. hell half the people in this
country don't vote anyway. the only reason I can think of for the
republicans to push this new restriction is because they don't
feel like they can win in a fair setting so they are trying to
make it harder for people who traditionally don't vote republican
to vote at all. and that is not what America is about. voting is a
constitutional right. all those people who would be turned away at
the polls because they don't have the new 'proper' ID, all those
people who used to be able to vote, will still be held by the
results of any election, an election they were turned away from
participating in.

and
if you think getting this new free state issued voter ID from the
DPS is easy, try being poor with no driver's license so you have
to take the bus, you have several children at home that you will
have to take with you or find a bay sitter except you can't afford
one, you will have to take a day (or two if there is a big crowd
at the DPS) off work which you can't afford even if your boss will
give you the day off, and you have to have proper identification
like a birth certificate that you don't have a copy of.

this
new voter ID that the republicans have tried to impose and was
struck down by the Justice Department is unnecessary. it will
impose undue hardship and obstruction on legal voters. Prove first
that there is a problem, that there has been voter fraud and by
that I mean voter fraud that wasn't purposely perpetrated by a
republican to prove that there is voter fraud.

To which he dug
up a few statistics stretching all the way back to 1948 to justify
the need. The number of fraudulent votes this new law might possibly
prevent is miniscule compared to the number of legal votes it will
prevent. And besides, it's not the poor, the minorities, the
students, or the old people who commit voter fraud. It's the cronies
and the funders that have a personal stake in the outcome who commit
voter fraud and those people will find a way, new ID card or not.

So I asked
him...

burning
down the house to get rid of a few roaches is an appropriate
response in your opinion?

Perhaps
he didn't like my analogy which I thought was quite apt. Taking an
extreme approach to a minor problem that ultimately doesn't really
address the problem but causes all kinds of damage anyway,

because
this was his reply...

The
courts will decide this one. We are living in two separate universes.
thanks for the debate. Adios.

Well, fella, the
Justice Department has already decided it but our state continues to
waste everyone's time and money to pursue it and I thank the powers
that be that we do live in different universes because yours must be
a pretty dismal place unless you are one of the chosen.

I think the people who live in his universe believe they are among the chosen. For a while I had a job in D.C. where I came in contact with some movers and shakers of industry (biotech & big pharma), and I learned how far from "chosen" the vast majority of us are.

Your correspondent might be at the head of the line for the Rapture, but to the Republican leaders, he's like all the rest of us--just bugs on the Rolls Royce windshield.

Oh man...this stuff just makes me tear my hair out...the incredible stupidity and greed...the quest for power. Politically Texas is one if not thee worst! WHY? Too many rich folks? Something in the water, which you seem to be the fish out of...It does rain here and it is very dark and cold BUT the politics are correct. I don't think I could live in less...even for sunshine.I grew up in Wyoming, my Dad was probably the only sane person in the entire state- he voted for Stevenson...

No, this is clearly a cynical attempt to restrict voter turnout in favor of the party. Question is, what if it turns out that those they bar from voting would, due to the sorry state of ignorance among registered voters that political scientists continually upon (short version: Americans are stupid), would have voted for their party's candidate? Whup ou tthe double-edged irony sword. In any case, it's Texas, so...

There are some solutions. One would think that we could all make it into the latter half of the 20th century and computerize registration. There should be an app for that. Facebook, at least, should be leading the charge on electronic registration.

I am the only left leaning elected official in a room full of four elected township officials. I said I didn't like the Affordable Health Care Act refered to as Obamacare. I got three blank stares. Nothing changed. I like to think they are so stupid they don't know the difference.

Ellen, it makes my blood boil. This morning I read where a 93 year old woman, Viviette Applewhite, is lead plaintiff in a state court lawsuit challenging the Voter ID law in Pennsylvania. It's not just Texas where this is happening. She lost her birth certificate & Social Security card years ago when her purse was stolen. After the lawsuit was filed she did get a birth certificate... but to get a photo ID she needs a SS card. To get one she would need to go to the SS Office in her wheelchair in order to get a new card.

Witold Walczak, legal director of the Pennsylvania ACLU, says, "What we're finding is this law disproportionately affects the elderly who no longer drive & have mobility problems."

Voter apathy is a huge 'problem' over here ... I have used inverted commas there because we do not need to show any ID when we vote - just say our name and address and they check we are on the Electoral Role and that's it. I could be anyone going in and saying the name and address of someone on the Role and there is no way of checking. It gets even sillier if you are a student ... you can be on the Role at college and again in your home town. There is no way of checking - people do take advantage of this, in some areas people sell their votes. As you clearly state you already have ID cards there is no requirement for another one. The person you were having a debate with is a fuckwit.

Returning the visit Ellen. There is no doubt that voter fraud is an issue. The question is, what to do about it? In Florida you must show your voter registration card which is then checked off against your name on a list at the polls. Seems to me that a credit card-sized photo ID that can be scanned would work and there is a way to do that without disenfranchising legitimate citizens... and that's a must... you have to be a citizen to vote.You're never going to stop criminals from trying to steal an election. It's pretty well known that Daly stole it for Kennedy in Chicago just as Jeb did for George in Florida. The biggest fear now is how to protect the database.

Ellen, i do so enjoy your posting and i almost did not comment here. If you think voter fraud is not a clear and present danger(all you others too),, then please look at what has and is happening. Perhaps everone's bank has a "no verification" policy ,,,so I will go to the bank and withdraw from whomever i decide.. call me a "right wing Nut", but I have fought for the poor and disadvataged more than most...oh,, I bet you lock you doors at night...I do.. AND I enjoy the friendship of some of your commentors...so I am going out on the "far right" limb here. Any opposing views to me are welcome.. We are all (or should be) in the war to save our Country.,.